Fic: Like Clockwork
For: llama_chan
Media: Fic
Request: 3. An Inui-centric fic, really going into his character. Pairing optional.
Warnings/Rating: G
Notes: First of all, thanks to ai_ling for the encouragement while I was writing this, to moonsliver for checking Inui's voice, and to ink_blots_101 for being so entusiastic about the quality of the finished version.
llama_chan, you said you didn't mind AU, so I hope this is acceptable. I'll admit that this is the first time I've ever written Inui's POV on anything, but it seems to have worked well, and hopefully you'll enjoy the result.
1396 words.
Like Clockwork
The main problem with people, Inui Sadaharu had found, was that they never acted as you expected them to. It didn't matter how much information you gathered on them, even the slightest external change could throw all that off. It was highly frustrating. Take, for example, one Tezuka Kunimitsu. Inui had been sure he'd had all the information there could be on the man, that Tezuka was highly predictable. And yet...
Somehow seeing Tezuka, normally so cool and composed, quite so agitated had Inui himself on edge. Of course a lot of that, he noted absently, was a healthy sense of self preservation. When you worked so closely with a man just over the brink of sanity you learned how best to save yourself. But still, this new behaviour of Tezuka's was... interesting. It would make a fascinating study, providing he could get someone else to be the test subject.
"They're turning men into clockwork soldiers. Not building them from scratch, Inui, they're replacing everything human with metal and machinery." There was an edge in Tezuka's voice as he paced the large room, eyes cast on the ground separated from their feet by thousands of miles and a single sheet of reinforced glass, that Inui would have classed as fear in anyone else.
Fear was, however, an irrational emotion, and Tezuka was anything but irrational. Inui's observations showed him as borderline insane, utterly ruthless and unflinchingly cruel, but never once had he acted in a manner that was anything less than rational. In that respect Inui surmised that they were very much alike, they both reacted to the facts laid out before them and didn't let emotions interefere. Not normally, anyway.
But Tezuka was evidently waiting for a response to his statement, that was the reason Inui had been called after all. "That's what can be gathered from the information, Tezuka," he confirmed, but his mind wasn't on the conversation they were having. The oddity of Tezuka's fear had his mind running at top speed, whirring away like the clockwork toys Tezuka so hated. There was some mystery here, something that would help Inui better understand the enigmatic, ruined man before him. And he would not stop until he discovered exactly what that was.
There would be a lot of digging through archives, of course, but Inui was one of the lucky few to learn Tezuka's full name and live, giving him an advantage many others did not. He also knew of Tezuka's military past, though he doubted the other man was aware of that. So he had a starting point, and access to restricted information. After all, being one of the greatest scientist of their age meant the Empire had a lot of use for him.
And Tezuka was speaking again, though Inui hadn't been paying him that much attention, the words would all have been a variation on the same theme, worry about the clockwork soldiers. Really, even when he was unpredictable, Tezuka could be so very predictable. And speaking of predictability...
The words cut off with an abruptness Inui would have thought impossible in any but the man before him at the resounding knock at the room's main door. There was only one person Inui knew of who would treat Tezuka's inner sanctum in such a way, and his guess was confirmed as the door slid open enough to admit the sky pirate, Yukimura Seiichi.
It was a timely arrival really, and Inui used their conversation to make his goodbyes. There was research to be done now after all, both on these soldiers and on Tezuka himself. There wasn't time for the veiled... something they shared, fascinating as watching it was. That information always fluctuated anyway, unlike Tezuka, Yukimura wasn't predictable and Inui had no real data on him.
**
The Empire's military record offices weren't really the sort of place that any person would want to visit if they had any choice in the matter. And it wasn't even because of all the different security checks you had to go through to even consider asking for access.
The building itself was designed to be everything people imagined to be imposing and forbidding, dark stone walls covered in gargoyles, housing tiny slitted windows and great, iron-barred doors that took three strong men or one good engine to open them. But it was the inside that disturbed people most. Vast, blank corridors. Door after door after door, rooms that no one ever went into, rooms that held the greatest secrets of this great empire. And their greatest failures.
Would Tezuka have been in one of those rooms, Inui wondered. If the government had succeeded in their experiments would Tezuka have been locked up and deemed too dangerous to use? If he hadn't escaped would he have been locked away in darkness and fear, a failure never to be spoken of again?
From the information he'd found out in the last few months, Inui suspected so. The Empire was not forgiving of mistakes, and what had been done to Tezuka was nothing short of a terrible mistake. The principle of the idea was fascinating though. Human soldiers were a great deal more adaptable than the clockwork ones, Inui could attest to that, just from observing people.
Clockwork did as it was wound to do. Fight. Kill. Advance. They could be destroyed as soon as the pattern was found, that infinite loop that kept them moving. But people. Ah, people were so much more complex than that. There was nothing predictable about a man in battle, no matter what he showed before going in. Some became merciless killers, forging on even as their own bodies were destroyed. Others discovered cowerdice, hiding and cowering, surviving the battle by letting their comrades die. But more still adapted. They used their cunning and they survived to fight again another day.
And that was what the military had wanted.
The idea was something that made perfect sense, as Inui saw it, combine the best aspects of both kinds of soldier to create a super army. It was perfectly logical, sensible even. But at the same time... It was something utterly reprihensible. Forget information, forget logic. This was human life they were talking about, it was not something to be toyed with and thrown away when it went wrong.
And yet, Inui felt he understood Tezuka and his ilk better now. He had know on some detatched level that the world they lived in was corrupt, had seen evidence of it as he went about his business, but never had it hit home quite as strongly as now.
Tezuka did not hate the government, he feared them, and it was that fear that drove him on. No wonder Inui's observations had been flawed, he had been looking at them from the wrong angle...
**
"Very good."
Just a few weeks ago it would have surprised Inui to hear Tezuka respond in such a way to his announcement, with that vague amusement that coloured his voice now. But Inui supposed he knew better now, Tezuka had probably known Inui was going to look into his past. There wasn't much Tezuka didn't seem to know, but that, Inui supposed, was an advantage to having spies all over the place.
As if to confirm Inui's theory, Tezuka held out a glass of deep red wine to him and spoke; "I'm impressed, it took you less time than I thought it would. I owe that bastard Yukimura money now, of course, but it's worth the price."
There was a strange look in Tezuka's eyes, Inui noted, though he couldn't quite place it at the moment. It was something almost... fond. Perhaps it would bear some greater research later, for now he would simply enjoy some good wine and wait for Tezuka to finish. Whatever it was he'd called Inui there for, whatever reason he'd allowed Inui to discover such well hidden information, it would be revealed in good time.
"Your reputation is deserved, Inui," Tezuka told him, gaze focussed somewhere on the maps below them both, "not only as a scientist but as an intelligent man. No, they're not the same," he murmured at Inui's raised eyebrow, "but I'm sure you knew that." Sighing quietly, he took a sip of his wine and gathered his thoughts before continuing.
"I have a proposition for you..."
Media: Fic
Request: 3. An Inui-centric fic, really going into his character. Pairing optional.
Warnings/Rating: G
Notes: First of all, thanks to ai_ling for the encouragement while I was writing this, to moonsliver for checking Inui's voice, and to ink_blots_101 for being so entusiastic about the quality of the finished version.
llama_chan, you said you didn't mind AU, so I hope this is acceptable. I'll admit that this is the first time I've ever written Inui's POV on anything, but it seems to have worked well, and hopefully you'll enjoy the result.
1396 words.
Like Clockwork
The main problem with people, Inui Sadaharu had found, was that they never acted as you expected them to. It didn't matter how much information you gathered on them, even the slightest external change could throw all that off. It was highly frustrating. Take, for example, one Tezuka Kunimitsu. Inui had been sure he'd had all the information there could be on the man, that Tezuka was highly predictable. And yet...
Somehow seeing Tezuka, normally so cool and composed, quite so agitated had Inui himself on edge. Of course a lot of that, he noted absently, was a healthy sense of self preservation. When you worked so closely with a man just over the brink of sanity you learned how best to save yourself. But still, this new behaviour of Tezuka's was... interesting. It would make a fascinating study, providing he could get someone else to be the test subject.
"They're turning men into clockwork soldiers. Not building them from scratch, Inui, they're replacing everything human with metal and machinery." There was an edge in Tezuka's voice as he paced the large room, eyes cast on the ground separated from their feet by thousands of miles and a single sheet of reinforced glass, that Inui would have classed as fear in anyone else.
Fear was, however, an irrational emotion, and Tezuka was anything but irrational. Inui's observations showed him as borderline insane, utterly ruthless and unflinchingly cruel, but never once had he acted in a manner that was anything less than rational. In that respect Inui surmised that they were very much alike, they both reacted to the facts laid out before them and didn't let emotions interefere. Not normally, anyway.
But Tezuka was evidently waiting for a response to his statement, that was the reason Inui had been called after all. "That's what can be gathered from the information, Tezuka," he confirmed, but his mind wasn't on the conversation they were having. The oddity of Tezuka's fear had his mind running at top speed, whirring away like the clockwork toys Tezuka so hated. There was some mystery here, something that would help Inui better understand the enigmatic, ruined man before him. And he would not stop until he discovered exactly what that was.
There would be a lot of digging through archives, of course, but Inui was one of the lucky few to learn Tezuka's full name and live, giving him an advantage many others did not. He also knew of Tezuka's military past, though he doubted the other man was aware of that. So he had a starting point, and access to restricted information. After all, being one of the greatest scientist of their age meant the Empire had a lot of use for him.
And Tezuka was speaking again, though Inui hadn't been paying him that much attention, the words would all have been a variation on the same theme, worry about the clockwork soldiers. Really, even when he was unpredictable, Tezuka could be so very predictable. And speaking of predictability...
The words cut off with an abruptness Inui would have thought impossible in any but the man before him at the resounding knock at the room's main door. There was only one person Inui knew of who would treat Tezuka's inner sanctum in such a way, and his guess was confirmed as the door slid open enough to admit the sky pirate, Yukimura Seiichi.
It was a timely arrival really, and Inui used their conversation to make his goodbyes. There was research to be done now after all, both on these soldiers and on Tezuka himself. There wasn't time for the veiled... something they shared, fascinating as watching it was. That information always fluctuated anyway, unlike Tezuka, Yukimura wasn't predictable and Inui had no real data on him.
**
The Empire's military record offices weren't really the sort of place that any person would want to visit if they had any choice in the matter. And it wasn't even because of all the different security checks you had to go through to even consider asking for access.
The building itself was designed to be everything people imagined to be imposing and forbidding, dark stone walls covered in gargoyles, housing tiny slitted windows and great, iron-barred doors that took three strong men or one good engine to open them. But it was the inside that disturbed people most. Vast, blank corridors. Door after door after door, rooms that no one ever went into, rooms that held the greatest secrets of this great empire. And their greatest failures.
Would Tezuka have been in one of those rooms, Inui wondered. If the government had succeeded in their experiments would Tezuka have been locked up and deemed too dangerous to use? If he hadn't escaped would he have been locked away in darkness and fear, a failure never to be spoken of again?
From the information he'd found out in the last few months, Inui suspected so. The Empire was not forgiving of mistakes, and what had been done to Tezuka was nothing short of a terrible mistake. The principle of the idea was fascinating though. Human soldiers were a great deal more adaptable than the clockwork ones, Inui could attest to that, just from observing people.
Clockwork did as it was wound to do. Fight. Kill. Advance. They could be destroyed as soon as the pattern was found, that infinite loop that kept them moving. But people. Ah, people were so much more complex than that. There was nothing predictable about a man in battle, no matter what he showed before going in. Some became merciless killers, forging on even as their own bodies were destroyed. Others discovered cowerdice, hiding and cowering, surviving the battle by letting their comrades die. But more still adapted. They used their cunning and they survived to fight again another day.
And that was what the military had wanted.
The idea was something that made perfect sense, as Inui saw it, combine the best aspects of both kinds of soldier to create a super army. It was perfectly logical, sensible even. But at the same time... It was something utterly reprihensible. Forget information, forget logic. This was human life they were talking about, it was not something to be toyed with and thrown away when it went wrong.
And yet, Inui felt he understood Tezuka and his ilk better now. He had know on some detatched level that the world they lived in was corrupt, had seen evidence of it as he went about his business, but never had it hit home quite as strongly as now.
Tezuka did not hate the government, he feared them, and it was that fear that drove him on. No wonder Inui's observations had been flawed, he had been looking at them from the wrong angle...
**
"Very good."
Just a few weeks ago it would have surprised Inui to hear Tezuka respond in such a way to his announcement, with that vague amusement that coloured his voice now. But Inui supposed he knew better now, Tezuka had probably known Inui was going to look into his past. There wasn't much Tezuka didn't seem to know, but that, Inui supposed, was an advantage to having spies all over the place.
As if to confirm Inui's theory, Tezuka held out a glass of deep red wine to him and spoke; "I'm impressed, it took you less time than I thought it would. I owe that bastard Yukimura money now, of course, but it's worth the price."
There was a strange look in Tezuka's eyes, Inui noted, though he couldn't quite place it at the moment. It was something almost... fond. Perhaps it would bear some greater research later, for now he would simply enjoy some good wine and wait for Tezuka to finish. Whatever it was he'd called Inui there for, whatever reason he'd allowed Inui to discover such well hidden information, it would be revealed in good time.
"Your reputation is deserved, Inui," Tezuka told him, gaze focussed somewhere on the maps below them both, "not only as a scientist but as an intelligent man. No, they're not the same," he murmured at Inui's raised eyebrow, "but I'm sure you knew that." Sighing quietly, he took a sip of his wine and gathered his thoughts before continuing.
"I have a proposition for you..."